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eG Foodblog: Schneier - More details than it's polite to ask

Schneier

By Schneier
in Food Traditions & Culture

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snowangel

snowangel

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I leave tomorrow for a few last days at the cabin, and will be curious when I return to see if you have managed to eat any crap or junk (other than airline-provided food).

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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fifi

fifi

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It is now the morning of Oct 3. And we still don't know the fate of the apple and the banana. Inquiring minds want to know. :laugh:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Schneier

Schneier

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It's hard to post when you're busy doing other things. It's hard to post when you're room doesn't have high-speed Internet access. It's hard to post when you're on an airplane.

When we last left our heros, it was Thursday afternoon at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The MGM is one of those middle-of-the-road hotels, not too good and not too bad. The only reason Karen and I are here is that it's where my meeting was.

A hotel/casino isn't going to put high-speed Internet access in the rooms. The last thing they want is people staying in their rooms.

Thursday Dinner: Craftsteak

Craft is Tom Collocio's New York restaurant. I didn't get a chance to go in the early days, when you basically got a menu of ingredients and could specify how you wanted your food cooked. Most people didn't like having so much control, so the menu become more menu like. It's a restaurant of single-note foods. There are no complicated preparations: you order your meats and your vegetables separately. But it's all expertly prepared, and I like going there. Going in groups is better, since it all comes family style.

Craftsteak is Collocio's Las Vegas outpost. It's in the MGM Grand, and it's basically the same menu with some more meat choices. We had our company dinner there.

It's interesting to see how this kind of thing is put together. We arranged to have a set menu, chef's choice, at a set price. According to the event order, we would have: "Starters: Two appetizers, two salads. Entrees: One fish, one chicken, one beef, one braised entree. Four-five side dishes. Chef's selection of desserts." Cost was $75 per person plus tax plus a 20% tip plus a $125 set-up fee. The reservation was for 28, and the total cost was $2797.25 plus beverages.

I didn't set the dinner up, but I picked the restaurant. When I saw the event order, I took it and went to the manager. I did my best to convince him that I knew the restaurant's menu and that I wanted the more interesting dishes rather than the more boring ones. The biggest danger in a menu like this is that the kitchen will choose lowest-common-denominator dishes rather than the weirder ones. I did convince him to bring mushrooms as a side dish, something he said that they didn't normally do for a group like that.

I also chose a red a white wine in the $50-$60 range, which were the price guidelines I was given. There was nothing good in that range, so I chose two wines likely to work for the group.

We had a semi-private room.

And we were served an amazing amount of food. The two salads were spinach and arugula, both with gentle dressing. The two appetizers were crayfish, scallops, grilled red peppers, and artichoke hearts. (Yes, that's four. No, I didn't ask.) The entrees were porterhouse steak, grilled chicken, broiled halibut, and braised short ribs (I asked for those). The 4-5 side dishes were baby brussel sprouts, string beans, long beans, gratin potatoes, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, chanterelles, and shitakes. I honestly stopped taking notes when the desserts came, but I remember a warm chocolate cake with a liquid center, one of the best bread puddings I have ever tasted, three sorbets including melon and lime, three ice creams, a cinnamon something, and something else.

The bill came to $4500.

Wow.

I have the receipt. There were 29 people, so the basic food was $2175. Some assorted miscellaneous food brought that total to $2488. The bar bill was $960. A $125 setup charge. $690 tip (ahem). $240 tax. Total: $4503.

The waiters were good a pushing wine, and managed to go through 14 bottles. Glasses were always kept full, and my estimate is that 4-5 bottles were in glasses on the table at the end of the meal. And there were lots of mixed drinks. And 30 bottles of water at $7 a bottle. And coffee/tea. It adds up.

But the company will reimburse me. And that's a whole lot of frequent flyer miles.

We did get done in time for the 10:30 Cirque de Soleil show. It was the new one, the adult one: Zumanity.

We went to sleep at 1:00 AM and woke up at 5:00 AM. We made a 6:20 flight to Dallas, where I'm now waiting to change planes to Minneapolis. That's 20 hours in Las Vegas total, if you're keeping track. And not a penny spent gambling.

Friday breakfast: sleep.

Bruce

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Toliver

Toliver

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The apple and banana are in Dallas with us, still uneaten.

Bruce

Is this like one of those garden gnome things, where they travel the world with you and you take pictures of them in front of the Eiffel Tower?

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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tammylc

tammylc

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I leave tomorrow for a few last days at the cabin, and will be curious when I return to see if you have managed to eat any crap or junk (other than airline-provided food).

Don't get your hopes up. I once saw him eat a taco from Taco Bell, but only under duress.

Tammy's Tastings

Creating unique food and drink experiences

eGullet Foodblogs #1 and #2
Dinner for 40

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Schneier

Schneier

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The apple and banana are in Dallas with us, still uneaten.

Bruce

Is this like one of those garden gnome things, where they travel the world with you and you take pictures of them in front of the Eiffel Tower?

Yeah. The next person tagged for foodblogging will get them in the mail.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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Don't get your hopes up.  I once saw him eat a taco from Taco Bell, but only under duress.

It's true that Taco Bell is my fast food of choice, if I'm stuck with fast food. Boston Market is second. Wendy's is third.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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Friday Lunch: Chili's.

Yeah, I know. We were stuck in the Dallas Airport, and it was the best of a lousy series of options. I had a cajun chicken breast sandwich without the cheese and fries. Karen had chili. Neither were very good, but neither were very bad. And a Pepsi; fountain Pepsi always tastes lousy.

We were in first class to Minneapolis, and they offered us lunch. (Las Vegas to Minneapolis was in coach...and not even together.) We both declined the meal.

In other news, there's a new op ed essay by me on the UPI wire service, on fixing national intelligence. And I submitted an op ed essay to Newsday on the JetBlue privacy fiasco and profiling in general.

Tonight we have friends flying in for the weekend. We're probably going out for dinner, although we may decide to stay home and cook.

Anyone have any opinions? We want to go someplace we haven't tried before, as we're looking for places to review.

Karen still has custody of the apple and the banana.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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Current restaurant ideas include the Sample Room, Modern Cafe, JP American Bistro, and Azia. Karen wants to go somewhere she hasn't been yet. I think that's a bit dicey with guests, but I'm game.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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Of course it's dicey, but:  if you all have a great time, you all have a new place to go back to; if it's a disaster, you've got a bond for life.

We've already got a bond for life. And they're out of towners.

Anyway, we went to Azia. It was fine.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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Friday Dinner: Azia

Azia is one of those hip Asian fusion restaurants. It's too noisy, but we managed.

Two appetizers: fried avocado rolls (the clunker of the evening) and battered squid with a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce and a jalapeno-basil dipping sauce. Laotian hot and sour soup. Pad thai with scallops. Lettuce cups (the hip entree of these sorts of places). Everything was good; some things were very good.

And it was too noisy.

We picked up our house guests last night just fine, and they're upstairs now waking up. Tonight we're hosing a party for 50+. (Whoever picked me for this week picked a good week: cooking at home, a picnic, an overnight trip, a party, and something really surprising on Monday. Oooo, foreshadowing.)

Today we go shopping. I'll take suggestions of things to serve. Nothing too complicated, as we prefer to enjoy our parties rather than play host all night.

Bruce

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jackal10

jackal10

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I'm still trying to figure out what security point you can illustrate in your lecture with an apple and a banana.

Let's see, Alice wants to trade an apple for Bob's Banana without Eve knowing...Neither Alice or Bob trust each other...

AS for feeding 50, it depends if they are expecting a meal or just nibbles.

For a meal you can't go far wrong with a large hunk of protein, some good bread, and a range of sides, like coleslaw and pickles. For nibbles, much the same, but maybe a whole Brie instead of the protein, but a good Ham would not come amiss. Some fruit (apples and Bananas I guess), maybe something cake like with chocolate and you are done..

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fifi

fifi

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As for feeding 50+... Call a caterer! :wink:

How about centerpieces of artfully arranged apples and bananas. Uuuummm... Maybe not.

(I am getting concerned about the condition of the original banana. Please report.)

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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ronnie_suburban

ronnie_suburban

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Hmmm...I think I know what's coming (or not coming) on Monday :hmmm::smile:

Really? Now I'm curious.

Have I mentioned it elsewhere on this site, or have you hacked my email?

Bruce

:biggrin: LOL...I can barely figure out how to access my own email.

Maybe just a bad hunch on my part...

=R=

"Hey, hey, careful man! There's a beverage here!" --The Dude, The Big Lebowski

LTHForum.com -- The definitive Chicago-based culinary chat site

ronnie_suburban 'at' yahoo.com

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Schneier

Schneier

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As for feeding 50+... Call a caterer!  :wink:

How about centerpieces of artfully arranged apples and bananas. Uuuummm... Maybe not.

(I am getting concerned about the condition of the original banana. Please report.)

When we do large dinners, we'll sometimes cater. More likely we cook. (We once cooked brisket for 50 with four different sauces.)

We will have fruit. We will have vegetables. We will have stinky cheeses. We'll have all sorts of stuff.

The banana is reaching the end of its fresh life. Another day or so and it goes into the freezer for banana bread.

Bruce

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Schneier

Schneier

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This just in!

Karen is eating the banana.

She's eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

She reports that it's pretty badly bruised, but okay.

The apple will go on the cheese plate tonight.

Bruce

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